True Stories About

Christmas
Books of The Holy Scriptures
As Written in The Book of Yahweh
The following information is given to assist you with the true
names of the Apostles and Prophets within The Holy Scriptures.
Book One (Old Testament)
Genesis Genesis II Chronicles II Chronicles Daniyl Daniel
Exodus Exodus Ezrayah Ezra Hosheyah Hosea
Leviticus Leviticus Nehemyah Nehemiah Yahyl Joel
Numbers Numbers Hadassah Megilla Esther Amosyah Amos
Deuteronomy Deuteronomy Yahshub/Iyyob Job Obadyah Obadiah
Yahshua Joshua Psalms Psalms Yahnah Jonah
Judges Judges Proverbs Proverbs Micahyah Micah
Riyyah Ruth Ecclesiastes Ecclesiastes Nachumyah Nahum
I Samuyl I Samuel Song of Songs Song of Solomon Habakkuk Habakkuk
II Samuyl II Samuel Isayah Isaiah Zephanyah Zephaniah
I Kings I Kings Yeremyah Jeremiah Chagyah Haggai
II Kings II Kings Lamentations Lamentations Zecharyah Zechariah
I Chronicles I Chronicles Yechetzqyah Ezekiel Malakyah Malachi
Book Two (New Testament)
Mattithyah Matthew Ephesians Ephesians Hebrews Hebrews
Yahchanan Mark Mark Philippians Philippians Yaaqob James
Luke Luke Colossians Colossians I Kepha I Peter
Yahchanan John I Thessalonians I Thessalonians II Kepha II Peter
Acts Acts II Thessalonians II Thessalonians I Yahchanan I John
Romans Romans I Timayah I Timothy II Yahchanan II John
I Corinthians I Corinthians II Timayah II Timothy III Yahchanan III John
II Corinthians II Corinthians Titus Titus Yahdah Jude
Galatians Galatians Philemon Philemon Revelation Revelation

—A House of Yahweh Publication—

1
2
 True Stories About
Christmas
I n the month of November, we start hearing Christmas carols
on the radio. We see children and adults singing carols on
television as merchants advertise their products, persuading
people to buy gifts. Christmas is the most commercialized hol-
iday of the year. People overspend to buy gifts for their friends
and relatives. They try to celebrate what they believe is the
birth of their Savior, who was sacrificed for their sins.

Was The Messiah’s Birth

On December 25th?
Authoritative educational books, such as encyclopedias, give
us the truth. In our own Holy Scriptures, long before the virgin
birth, the Creator speaks of this festival being celebrated, as
Yeremyah 10:1-5 indicates.
The Encyclopedia Britannica, Volume II (1943-1973), un-
der Christmas, says:
‘‘In the Roman world, the Saturnalia was a time of merrymak-
ing and exchanging of gifts. December 25th was also regarded
as the birthdate of the Iranian Mystery god, Mithra, the Sun of
Righteousness.
On the Roman New Year houses were decorated with greenery
and lights and gifts were given to children.
To these observances were added the German and Celtic Yule
rites...Food and good fellowship, the Yule log and Yule cakes,
greenery and fir trees, gifts and greetings all commemorated
different aspects of this festive season. Fires and lights, symbols
of warmth and lasting life have always been associated with the
winter festival, both pagan and Christian.’’

In A Book of Christmas, by William Sansom, McGraw-Hill,

1968, pages 28-39, we find the following information:
To get green food for his beasts and later for himself when the
first corn was planted, primitive man needed rain and sun. So,
with their primitive eyes on the great and mysterious sky...the first

3
religious instincts prayed to the sun! The moment of the Sun’s
Annual rebirth in late December was one of the vital religious
times of the year. This time of year was also the least laborious.
There was time to make merry. Early Northern people, who had no
exact astronomical findings began their Winter festivals earlier...in
November...when the signs of the sun’s recession... (dying) and the
scarcity of animal food made the slaughter of the increase of the
herd necessary. Later, the ceremonies moved forward to mid-De-
cember and the anticipation of the Saturnalia...that wonderful,
heartwarming, emotional festival introduced by the Romans by
their occupation of the then-known world.
In Roman Times...a Pre-Christian Message of ‘peace and god’s
will’ to all men accompanied the Saturnalia! The Saturnalia was
within the solstice and Saturnalia-Kalendae period...starting De-
cember 17 and going through January 1st. The Roman Saturnalia
is recorded in writing and was the function of a highly civilized
people. The first period of feasting was generally for seven days.
The god celebrated was Saturn...farmer of a former gold age and
eater of his own children.
The giving of presents...particularly candles and dolls called
Sigillaria also derives from the insistent origin of human sacrifice
at this time of year!
Directly following the Saturnalia was the Kalendae...more
mathematically concerned with the date of the new Roman year...
and the celebration of the god Janus, god of doors (as a two-way
engine) who looks back on the past and forward to the future.
One may think of the Saturnalia as ‘Roman in Rome’...but the
truth is: The Roman Empire was a World-Ruling Empire at that
time. The customs of Rome were spread to all the known world!
Britons and Celts, Indians and Egyptians were all called part of
the Roman Empire at one time. These nations brought their own
Sun Worshipping Cults to join into the Saturnalia Celebrations!
It was an Empire-Wide Celebration. All the people in this Empire,
save only a few...gathered in their homes to drink wine...to dance
and sing...to light their candles and exchange presents...giving
their children the little clay dolls that represented their former
sacrifices!
The Strenae...honoring the goddess Strenia...were given for
‘good luck!’
The Feast of Fools and the Lord of Misrule derived directly from
the Saturnalia.
Many other customs have become engrafted into the ancient
celebration occurring at this time of year. Mummers and Wild Men
roam the British Isles and Europe. The Mari Lwyd ritual in Wales
is reviving. The evergreen tree is an ancient custom incorporat-
ed. The Vikings gave their Yule...the druids donated their magic
mistletoe...the Father Christmas in Briton and the Santa Claus of
German origin were all donated and incorporated into the holidays
known worldwide as Christmas and New Year!

4
 It was not until the middle of the fourth century c.e. that the
‘Birth’ of the Messiah was officially celebrated at the time of year
when the lighting of fires...the praising of the new sun...relaxation
and feasting was set on the very same date as that of the birth of
the sun god...Mithra!

MITHRAISM: The worship of Mithra shared many similarities

with the newer Christian ceremonies. There was baptism, a sac-
ramental meal, and observance of Sunday, and the god himself
was born on December 25th.

The Ancient Pagan Celebrations

Of Modern Christmas And New Year
In Revelation 1:1, the Apostle Yahchanan is given the revela-
tion of what will shortly come to pass at the end of this Age.
Yahchanan is shown the history of The House of Yahweh and
the end of the Babylonian Mystery Religions that this whole
deceived world worships in this very day and time.
 Revelation 17:1—
And there came one of the seven malakim who had the seven bowls,
and talked with me, saying to me: Come, I will show you the sen­tence
of the great whore that sits upon many waters.

The word waters in this verse is referring to peoples, and mul-

titudes, and nations, and tongues, as we find in:
 Revelation 17:2-6—
2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication;
practiced idolatry: godworship (the worship of elohim), and the in-
habitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her
fornication.
3 So he carried me away in the Spirit into the midst of godworship-
ers (worshipers of Elohim); and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet
colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten
horns.
4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and
decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls, having a golden
cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication.
5 And upon her head was a name written: Mystery Babylon the
great, the mother of the harlots and of the abominations of the earth.
6 And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, and with
the blood of the martyrs of Yahshua. And when I saw her, I wondered
with great astonishment.
 Revelation 17:15—
And he said to me: The waters which you saw, where the whore sits,
are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and languages.

5
In Revelation 17:5, we are shown a religion of mystery, the
Great Whore, or Great God Worshiper, as this religion should
be called, which brings abominations to all peoples, multi-
tudes, nations and languages.
Collier’s Encyclopedia, 1980, Volume 16, pages 349-350,
tells us of these Ancient Mystery Religions.
THE MYSTERY RELIGIONS
The mystery religions furnish an ancient example of a missionary
movement. Originally they were magical ceremonies designed
to induce bountiful crops. They dramatized the annual decay of
vegetation in the autumn as the death of a divine youth over whom
a goddess mourned. Later they celebrated with ecstatic joy the
return of verdure in the spring as the coming to life again of the
departed youth. Participating in these rites was believed to cleanse
the devotee of his sins and unite him mystically with the god. They
were crude and orgiastic but they had a dynamic quality which
led to their expansion.
The devotees of the cult of Dionysus, which celebrated the annual
death and resurrection of the god of the grape and of wine, carried it
from Macedonia into Greece and established it at Delphi beside the
worship of Apollo. They even managed to have Dionysus declared
to be the son of Apollo though it was not natural to associate a
bibulous deity with the god of light, of music, and of prophecy. The
horror with which the cult of Dionysus was originally regarded
is vividly depicted by Euripides in his play The Bacchae, written
around 407 B.C. The dramatist, in representing King Pentheus of
Thebes as first trying to stamp out the cult of Dionysus by force
but finally capitulating to him, seems to be testifying to the irre-
sistible advance of this religion. About a generation later, Plato
in The Republic complains about the itinerant initiators of the
Orphic religion who were offering absolution from sin by means
of sacrifices and ecstatic revels, alleged to benefit both the living
and the dead.
In spite of the protests of such men as Euripides and Plato
the mystery religions continued to make converts because they
supplied something which neither the religion of the Olympic gods
nor the philosophers of Greece could offer. This was especially true
of the Eleusinian mysteries which may have had their origin in
Egypt. In these ceremonies, Demeter, the goddess of agriculture,
was represented as weeping over her daughter Persephone, who
had been carried off by Pluto, god of the nether world, to become
his bride. She reappeared, however, in the spring and spent six
months (according to some accounts, eight) with her mother before
returning to Pluto. By a natural development, these mysteries

6
came to teach that, just as the vegetation was reborn in the spring,
after its death in the autumn, so the initiates might be reborn after
death. Though the details of these rites are unknown, because
they were secret, it is evident that the drama which the initiates
saw enacted was a source of great comfort to them thereafter,
attracting at Athens alone thousands of candidates who thronged
to be initiated.
The Syrian mystery religion in which the goddess Astarte wept
over Adonis was carried by Phoenician sailors and traders to var-
ious ports in the Mediterranean at an early date. Later, when this
sea was controlled by the Ptolemies, Egyptian sailors and traders
carried the mystery religion of Isis to Cyprus, Sicily, Italy, Gaul, and
Spain. This religion, transformed considerably from its Egyptian
prototype, had great popularity in Rome, and held its own for 500
years. It was at one time a formidable rival of Christianity.
Mithraism, which was also a rival of Christianity in the early
centuries, seems to have had many affinities with the mystery re-
ligions, especially in its graded series of seven stages of initiation.
Mithra or Mithras was the name of an ancient deity among the
Aryans. Originally he was the god of the social order, but in Persian
religion he had warlike characteristics, being a manifestation of
the power of the sun, fighting against darkness on behalf of Ahura
Mazda. His emblem was sol invictus, the invincible sun, and his
help was sought especially by those engaged in warfare.
The Romans became acquainted with Mithraism in 66 B.C.
Pompey had been given dictatorial powers to suppress the pirates
who swarmed the Mediterranean. He captured their strongholds
in Cilicia at the eastern end of the Mediterranean, took 20,000
prisoners and settled them at various points in Asia Minor and
Greece. These captured Cilician pirates introduced Mithraism to
the Romans. It did not make much headway, however, till toward
the end of the second century A.D., when soldiers recruited in
Pontus, Cappadocia, and Lesser Armenia spread the faith through
the Roman legions. It was also propagated by merchants and slaves
from these regions, but its strength lay chiefly in the army. Emperor
Diocletian favored it, and so did Constantine at first, even using
the emblem of the invincible sun on his banners. He later replaced
this by the Christian emblem. Mithraism had already received a
severe setback through the loss of the important outpost of the
army in Dacia on the Danube, where the faith was especially
strong. While for a time Mithraism seemed a formidable rival of
Christianity, it had an outstanding weakness. It was a masculine
religion with little or no place for women. Consequently it could
never become strongly entrenched in family life. Its vogue came
to an end toward the close of the fourth century, though it lingered
on in a few isolated places.

7
 Has Mithraism, Or Sun Worship, Really
Come To An End In These Modern Times?
In the earliest millennium, the great mother goddess was a
symbol of procreation and fertility and was worshiped in every
corner of the world. This mother goddess was pictured as the
sun and earth and her consort as the moon and the natural
elements.
The Babylonians, in their popular religion, worshiped a god-
dess mother and a son, represented in pictures and images as a
mother with her son in her arms. From Babylon this worship of
the mother and her child spread to the ends of the earth.

The original Babylonian mother goddess was Semiramis. The

adored little child in her arms was Ninus, signified as the son.
This same little child was also signified as the husband of Semi-
ramis.
In Egypt, where this mother and child worship spread, the
mother was worshiped as Isis and her son/husband was wor-
shiped as Osiris. Osiris was represented in Egypt as the son
and husband of his mother and actually bore the name, hus-
band of the Mother.
In India this same worship is of Isi and Iswara. In Asia Cy-
bele and Deoius are venerated. Pagan Rome worshiped Fortu-
na and Jupiter-puer (Jupiter the boy).
In ancient Greece this mother and son worship was repre-
sented as Ceres the Great Mother with the babe at her breast; or
as Irene the goddess of peace, with the boy Plutus in her arms.

8
 Even Tibet, China and Japan had prototypes of this fornica-
tion and abomination which Yahweh hates. The Madonna and
Child worship certainly did not start in the Christian Era.

We are told of the first government by man, and of man, and

against Yahweh in:
 Genesis 10:8-9—
8 Cush begot Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one on the earth.
9 He was a tyrant who deceived, who turned against Yahweh;
therefore it is said: Like Nimrod the tyrant who deceived, who turned
against Yahweh.

Nimrod built the tower of Babel, the original Babylon, Ancient

Nineveh and many other cities. Nimrod also brought forward a
way of worship that was against the worship of Yahweh.
Nimrod was so evil that he married his own mother, Semir-
amis. After Nimrod’s untimely death, his mother/wife brought
forward the doctrine of the resurrection of Nimrod. She
claimed a full grown evergreen tree sprang up overnight from a
dead tree stump. She also claimed that Nimrod would visit the
evergreen tree on each anniversary of his birth and leave gifts
upon it. This ancient Roman coin shows the yule log—the slain
God come to life again.
Semiramis, through her scheming, became the Babylonian
Queen of Heaven. She introduced a worship to usher in the
rebirth of her son every year.
 Yeremyah 7:18—
How the children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, while
the women knead dough to make cakes for the Queen of Heaven, and
how they pour out drink offerings to the hinder gods (elohim), so they
may provoke Me to anger!
 Yechetzqyah 8:14—
Then he brought me to the door of the gate of Yahweh’s House,
which was toward the north; and behold, there sat women weeping
for Tammuz.

In this ancient act of sun worship, women would ceremonial-

ly weep until Nimrod—Tammuz was reincarnated as the ever-
green tree. Nimrod’s birthday was December 25th.
In Egypt, Osiris, the Sun God, the son/husband of Isis was
born on December 25th. In the Syrian Mystery Religion, As-
tarte—Semiramis wept over Adonis—Nimrod. The birthday of
Adonis, the Sun God of Syria, was December 25th. The festival

9
of Mithras, the Sun God of Ancient Persia, was celebrated on
December 25th. Tree Worship and celebrating a birthday on
December 25th certainly did not start in the Christian Era.
Mithraism, or Persian Sun God worship was a well known
religion in Yahshua’s day. The Romans became acquainted with
this religion about 200 b.c.e., by the year 200 c.e., it was popular
in the Roman armies. Mithras was a manifestation of the power
of the sun. The emblem of Mithras read: Sol Invictus—the In-
vincible Sun. The cult of Mithras ennobled fighting as a manly
virtue and was especially attractive to the Roman soldiers.
The leaders of this Mithraic religion were the very ones that
brought the last two persecutions on what remained of The
House of Yahweh. These persecutions were first recorded in
the book of Acts. By the time the tenth persecution under Dio-
cletian was formulated, The House of Yahweh had allowed pa-
ganism to creep in; therefore, they were not strictly following
Yahweh, as the First Era had been when Yahshua walked the
earth.
Diocletian restored order, but only by instituting a reign of
regimentation and despotism. His eventual successor in 307
c.e. was Constantine, but by that time the Roman Empire, as a
strong military entity, had suffered irreparable damage.
Diocletian, who brought the most severe persecution for-
ward, worshiped Mithras. His successor, Constantine, who
was the historical savior of the Christian relition, also wor-
shiped Mithras. Constantine had the emblem of the invincible
sun on his banners. The Last Two Million Years, by The Read-
ers Digest Association, 1971, page 77, says:
Worship of the sun-god
For the next 500 years Persia came under the rule of the Parthians,
a warlike people from the north-east. This was a period of almost
ceaseless conflict with Rome, from which neither side emerged
victor. Roman soldiers carried back to Europe the Persian worship
of Mithras, the sun-god. If Mithraism had not been superseded in
the Roman Empire by Christianity, Europe might have adopted
the Persian religion.

 Collier’s Encyclopedia, 1980, Volume 9, page 431, says:

Roman Religion and the Emergence of Christianity.
The religion of the Romans also displayed lack of imagination. As
encouraged by Augustus and some of his successors, it was a cold,
remote affair of ceremonies and rituals. Much had been borrowed

10
 from the Greeks, but, as so often occurred, the Romans took the
shell and left the kernel; the charm of the old Greek religion was
lost. As social and economic conditions became worse, the Roman
masses turned more and more to the colorful, strongly emotional,
and superstitious mystery religions imported from the East. The
cults of the Great Mother, of Isis, and of Mithras were the most
popular. They all emphasized spiritual salvation and a future
life—in a word they offered comfort. The cult of Mithras, which
appealed primarily to men, became very strong and was carried
throughout the Empire by the constantly moving Roman legions.
It was to be the chief rival of Christianity.

Was Mithraism the chief rival of Christianity or is Christianity

just the name of Mithraism in this day and age?
Constantine was a pagan worshiper of Mithra. He used
religious toleration for the Christians as a political ploy to
strengthen his own power as the pagan emperor of Rome.
 The Last Two Million Years, by The Readers Digest Associa-
tion, 1971, pages 116-118, says:
By the 2nd century many foreign religions were being practiced as
well, imported from the various regions of the empire by traders
and soldiers. Most of these religions appealed because they con-
tained an element of secret initiation and intense group-identity,
which official Roman religion lacked. Thus the Persian cult of
Mithras, which ennobled fighting as a manly virtue, attracted the
soldiers, while Christianity offered a democratic after-life to the
underprivileged, and made a particular appeal, in its early days,
to slaves and women.
Worship of the emperor
For those with a taste for Oriental mysticism there were the Egyptian
cults of Isis, the mother goddess, and Serapis, her spouse; while
for those who favoured hallucinogenic revelation through frenzy
and trance there were the Bacchic rites from Greece.
Further off, in the more remote provinces, the weird local deities
continued to flourish; all gods were tolerated, as long as everybody
paid the proper respect on the appointed festival days to the official
worship of the emperor, the focus of loyalty to Rome. It was the
Christians’ refusal to pay this homage that made Christianity the
single faith that, for three centuries, Rome would not tolerate.

While these sources claim that the Christians were the ones
who did not worship these gods, it is important to note that the
ones who were not worshiping these gods were in fact the true
worshipers of Yahweh and not the Christians. The true follow-
ers of Yahweh would never bow down to worship Gods. This

11
loyalty to Yahweh’s Way was the sign of a true follower. By the
time the persecutions ended, The House of Yahweh had also
ended as a religious organization. You can believe, there were
no true followers of Yahweh or His Way left.

Constantine was still a sun worshiper when the religion that is
called Christianity today was initiated.
Collier’s Encyclopedia, 1980, Volume 21, page 632, says:
SUNDAY. To understand the meaning and significance of Sunday
as the first day of the week it is necessary to consider the five
contributions which have been made to its place in the calendar
and to its manner of observance: (1) the worship of the sun among
ancient peoples, (2) the popularity of Mithraism among the Romans,
(3) the Roman observance of the day of the Sun, (4) the early
Christian dedication of the first day of the week as a memorial
of the resurrection of Christ, and (5) the Scottish Presbyterian
conception of Sunday as a day of rest and the adoption of this
conception by Puritan Massachusetts, with the resulting Sunday
laws, usually known as Blue Laws.
From prehistoric times to the close of the fifth century of the
Christian Era the worship of the sun was dominant. Deified in
Egypt as Ra, the Sun-god, he is pictured in the oldest passages of
the Pyramid texts. The sun-disk (Aton) with the outspread wings
of the falcon became the most generally used symbol of Egyptian
religion. In Babylonia, cylinder seals picture the sun as a deity
coming forth through open doors which attendants hold open for
him, at the same time turning their faces away so as not to be
blinded by his brightness. This idea of the sun having a habita-
tion is reflected in the Biblical reference to his coming forth as a
bridegroom from his chamber rejoicing as a strong man to run
his course. When the Israelites entered Palestine they found the
worship of the sun under the name of Baal-hammon, the latter
part of this title meaning sun images.
At an early unknown date the mystery cult of Mithra or Mithras
arose in Persia. In Zoroastrianism he is named Yazata, a power of
light serving as aide to Ahura-Mazda. In the valley of the Euphrates
he attained the eminence of an Assyrian god. Mithraism reached
Rome in the second century B.C.E. It became popular in the Roman
army, in the commercial class, and among the slaves and eventually
was adopted by the Roman emperors because it supported the divine
right of kings. From very ancient times, the Romans had marked
each eighth day as a holiday. It is not surprising, since they were
influenced not only by the favored cult of Mithras but also by the
Egyptian cult in North Africa that they gradually came to observe
a holiday dedicated to the sun. Dies solis was substituted for dies
Saturni. The earliest known Sunday law appeared in the edict of

12
 Constantine (A.D. 321) enacting that ‘magistrates, city people, and
artisans’ were to rest on the venerable day of the Sun. This law
probably bore no relation to Christianity.
The early Christians had first adopted the Jewish seven day week
with its numbered weekdays, but by the close of the third century
the planetary week, and in the fourth and fifth centuries the pagan
calendar names had become general in western Christendom.

This says: ‘‘The earliest known Sunday Law appeared in the

Edict of Constantine in 321 C.E. enacting that magistrates,
city people and artisans were to rest on the veneral day of the
sun.’’ This is not the only enactment that resembles present
day Christianity.
The Last Two Million Years, by The Readers Digest Associ-
ation, 1971, pages 217-218, says:
By a stroke of tactical genius the Church, while intolerant of pagan
beliefs, was able to harness the powerful emotions generated by
pagan worship. Often, churches were sited where temples had stood
before, and many heathen festivals were added to the Christian
calendar. Easter, for instance, a time of sacrifice and rebirth in
the Christian year, takes its name from the Norse goddess Eostre,
in whose honour rites were held every spring. She in turn was
simply a Northern version of the Phoenician earth-mother Astarte,
goddess of fertility. Easter eggs continue an age-old tradition in
which the egg is a symbol of birth; and cakes which were eaten to
mark the festivals of Astarte and Eostre were the direct ancestors
of our hot-cross buns.

By harnessing the emotions generated by pagan religions, one can

truthfully say that the pagan religions are a part of Christianity.
Constantine, was also the leader of the First Council of Ni-
caea in the year 321 C.E. Sunday Worship was established for
Christianity at that time. The Christian church did not want
to have anything to do with the ‘‘wicked rabble of the Jews,’’
including Yahweh’s seventh day Sabbath.
Easter, or the worship of the goddess, Eostre, was estab-
lished at that Council because Passover was part of the ‘‘Jew-
ish’’ religion. The doctrine of the trinity was established and
Yahweh’s Feasts were changed to the pagan celebrations the
deceived Christian world celebrates today.
 Daniyl 7:24-25—
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that will
arise; and another will rise after them; and he will be different from
the first ones, and he will subdue three kings.

13
 25 And he will speak great words against Yahweh, and will wear
out; mentally attack to cause to fall away, the saints of Yahweh, and
think to change times; Yahweh’s Feast Days, and Laws; and they will
be given into his hand until a time, and times, and the dividing of time.

History has proven this prophecy correct. The last, diverse

kingdom that subdued three kingdoms is the religious power
of papal Rome. This religious power changed the Feast days of
Yahweh to the pagan festivals that were already popular.
The most popular pagan festival was the birthday of the In-
vincible Sun on December 25th. The Mithraic and Roman reli-
gions were already celebrating the rebirth of the sun. It was not
a hard task to place the mask of Christianity over this pagan
birthdate and call it the birthday of Jesus.
Strange Stories Amazing Facts, by The Readers Digest As-
sociation, pages 283-284, says:
Christmas and Easter, although the greatest festivals in the
Christian calendar, are celebrated with customs that originated
in superstition and heathen rites hundreds of years before Christ
was born.
Even the dates owe more to pagan practices than to the birth
and resurrection of Jesus. It was not until the fourth century that
December 25 was fixed arbitrarily as the anniversary of the Nativ-
ity—because the pagan festivals from which so many Christmas
customs spring were held around that time.
And Easter, still a movable feast despite much pressure to allot
it a specific date, falls according to the phase of the moon that the
pagans long ago decided was the appropriate time to venerate
their gods.
Although Christianity has swept the world in a relatively short
time, as the histories of great religions go, the early missionaries
faced an uphill task. The pagans were reluctant to give up their
false gods and ancient practices.
So the missionaries, unable to convert them easily to an entirely
new code of worship, did the next best thing. They took the pagan
festivals as they were and gradually grafted the observances of
the new faith onto these festivals and the rites and customs sur-
rounding them.
December 25 was not called Christmas until the ninth century.
Until then it had been the Midwinter Feast, a combination of the
Norse Yule Festival and the Roman Saturnalia, both of which took
place in late December.

How was this deceit perpetrated on mankind? The Last Two

14
Million Years, by The Readers Digest Association, 1971, pages
217-218, tells us how:
Since bishops were educated men at a time when education was a
rarity, they became civil servants, chancellors and secretaries to
rulers. Much of the history of medieval England, for instance, revolves
around its bishops and archbishops, such as Augustine, Stephen
Langton and Thomas Becket. Many such men had a first loyalty to
the pope; some, like Cardinal Wolsey, Henry VIII’s chief minister
for nearly 20 years, even had ambitions to be pope themselves.
Meanwhile at the centre, in Rome itself, the popes had an efficient
organization, the curia, patterned on that of the Roman Empire.
Papal legates abroad reported back to the pope on shifts of policy
and political power, and held a powerful diplomatic weapon in their
right to refer disputes to Rome. The pope claimed the sole power
to grant absolution for sin. Through the bishops and the parish
priests, his authority reached into almost every corner of Europe.

T he only educated people were the Roman Catholic clergy.

The great majority of the population were ignorant, uneducat-
ed, and superstitious. When the priests said this was the way
of worship, this was the way of worship no matter that it orig-
inated in paganism, or that it had nothing to do with the bible.
It is one thing to be illiterate, unlearned, and deceived about
the pagan holidays worshiped today; but it is an entirely differ-
ent thing to know what the bible says, and then refuse to obey
what the bible says.

What The Bible Says

About Pagan Holidays!
 Yechetzqyah 16:2-3—
2 Son of man, make Yerusalem realize her abominations,
3 And say; This is what Father Yahweh says to Yerusalem: Your
birth and your nativity are of the land of Canaan; your father was an
Amorite, and your mother was a Hittite.

Birth and Nativity?

T he people of Israyl that Yechetzqyah was prophesying to
were not Canaanites our father Abraham was a Mesopotamian
from the land of Ur. He was speaking of God worship. The birth
and nativity are as old as the history of The Holy Scriptures.

15
 The father of this pagan Godworship was Amorite. The Am-
orite means the High One. The first dynasty of Babylon was
Amorite. That Amorite—Babylonian dynasty fell to the Hit-
tites when they conquered Babylon. The Hittites were the third
most influential of Ancient peoples of the Middle East, rival-
ing the Egyptians and Mesopotamians. About 1550 B.C.E., the
Hittites destroyed the Babylonian capital of the Great Amorite
king, Hammurabi.
Unger’s Bible Dictionary, page 493, tells us:
Hittite religion is a grand medley of Egyptian and Babylonian
deities. They transported Ishtar of Nineveh as far west as Asia
Minor. Marduk, the patron god of Babylon, is said on one tablet to
have gone to the land of the Hittites where he sat upon his throne
for twenty-four years. With Egyptian deities they also assimilated
the gods of Syria and Asia Minor. Hittites early dwelt in what later
became prominent centers of early Christianity: Tarsus, Iconium,
Lystra, etc. The famous Ephesian Diana may have been a Hittite
Artemis. Hittite gods are frequently depicted astride the backs of
animals or enthroned between them. However, they are not actu-
ally presented as animals. This was evidently the arrangement in
Jeroboam’s cultic calves at Dan and Bethel, with Jehovah invisibly
enthroned. M.F.U.

As we have previously proven, the people throughout the

known pagan world, including Babylon, Egypt, and Syria, all
worshiped the sun and the moon through their gods and god-
desses. Mother and child worship was prevalent. The rebirth of
this child each year was manifested in the form of an evergreen
tree. In Yechetzqyah 16:2-3, Yechetzqyah spoke of this abomi-
nable worship. He also says in:
 Yechetzqyah 16:15-21—
15 But you trusted in your own beauty, and played the harlot be-
cause of your renown; fame, and poured out your fornications upon
every one who passed by; worshiping the gods (elohim) of every na-
tion; his it became.
16 You took some of your garments, decked your high places with
many different colors, and played the harlot upon your high places.
Such things should not have come to pass, nor should they ever have
been!
17 You also took your beautiful jewelry, My gold and My silver
which I gave you, and made male gods (elohim) for yourself, and com-
mitted whoredom; god (el) worship, with them;
18 And you took your embroidered garments and clothed them, and
you set My oil and My incense before them.
19 My food that I gave you—the fine flour, oil, and honey that I fed

16
 you—you set it before them for a sweet aroma. This is so, says Father
Yahweh!
20 Moreover, you have taken your sons and your daughters, whom
you have borne to Me, and you have sacrificed them as meat for your
gods (elohim)! Is your harlotry not enough,
21 That you must slay My children, offering them up and causing
them to pass through the fire to your gods (elohim)?

Playing the harlot and committing whoredom in these scrip-

tures is giving worship to gods rather than to Yahweh.
 Yechetzqyah 16:25-26—
25 You have built your high places at the head of every road, and
made your beauty to be abhorred. You have offered yourself to every
one that passed by, and multiplied your whoredoms.
26 You have also committed fornication; god (el) worship, with the
sons of Egypt, your neighbors who are great of flesh; and you have
increased your whoredoms, to provoke Me to anger.

In Yechetzqyah 16:27-29, Yahweh goes on to show that the

children of Israyl also committed god worship with the Phi-
listines, the Assyrians, and the Chaldeans. The children of
Israyl celebrated the religious festivals of the Middle Eastern
versions of Christmas and New Year. They brought gifts to the
gods. The high places were where sacred poles had been set up,
for the renewed God and sun. Their children were sacrificed to
the high god Molech at the time of the new year.

Child Sacrifice
 Mythology of All Religions, Volume 5, page 52, says:
At this festival a great fire was lighted and having lost his old age
in fire he obtains in exchange his youth. There was in consequence
a feast on the second of this month throughout Syria called, Dies
Natalis Solis Invicti...Natal (birth) day of The Unconquerable Sun.
This legend of the death and burial of the sun god of Tyre is
undoubtedly based upon the legend of the tomb of Bel-Marduk at
Babylon. As Marduk (Bel-Baal-Lord) rose from his tomb at the
New Year’s Festival...so also the Tyrians believed their sun god
to come forth from his tomb, symbol of his annual sleep of death
in the lower world.
At Aphaca in the Lebanons, east of Gebal, was the tomb of BAAL,
who, as shall be seen, is probably Adonis of Gebal, also a sun god.
The burning of the image of Melqart, the Tyrian Hercules, that by
passing through the fire he may receive his youth again to revive
the life of a dying world, seems to have been peculiar to Tyre and
the land to which this cult spread.

17
 It may be presumed from the human (infant-child) sacrifices
to Malik (Molech) in Canaan and to Melqart (Bel-Baal-Lord) as
Cronus at Carthage that the Phoenicians offered the first born
in the fire which celebrated the Sol Invictus (the same Invincible
Sun Constantine worshipped) and insured themselves against the
wrath of the relentless god. The Malik of Tyre was identified with
Hercules...

L iving infants and children were burned in the fire to the

God Molech during this time. This was the time of the winter
solstice when those heathen were dismayed at the signs of
heaven.
Unger’s Bible Dictionary, page 416 says:
Mo´lech (mo´lek; Heb. Melek, king), a detestable Semitic deity
honored by the sacrifice of children, in which they were caused
to pass through or into the fire. Palestinian excavations have
uncovered evidences of infant skeletons in burial places around
heathen shrines. Ammonites revered Molech as a protecting father.
Worship of Molech was stringently prohibited by Hebrew law (Lev.
18:21; 20:1-5). Solomon built an altar to Molech at Tophet in the
Valley of Hinnon. Manasseh (c. B.C. 686-642) in his idolatrous orgy
also honored this deity. Josiah desecrated the Hinnom Valley altar
but Jehoiakim revived the cult. The prophets sternly denounced
this form of heathen worship (Jer. 7:29-34; Ezek. 16:20-22; 23:37-
39; Amos 5:26). No form of ancient Semitic idolatry was more
abhorrent than Molech worship. M. F. U.
Mo´loch (mo´lok), another form in English (Amos 5:26; Acts 7:43)
of Molech (q. v.).

 The Concise Encyclopedia of Greek and Roman Mythology,

by Sabine G. Ostwalt, page 261, under SATURNUS, we find:
A Sacrifice was made to Saturnus in his temple with uncovered
head according to the Greek observance because Saturnus had
come from Greece. After the Sacrifice there was a public ban-
quet...People exchanged presents, most frequently clay puppets
(dolls) in memory of the fact Hercules (Molech) abolished human
(infant-child) sacrifice when he introduced the cult of Saturnus.

 The Encyclopedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, under Sat-

urnalia, says:
‘‘These dolls were especially given to children and the makers of
them held a regular fair at this time.’’

I t was believed that these dolls represented the original sac-

18
rifices to the infernal god. This infernal god was the original
Molech that the Greeks renamed Cronus and the Romans re-
named Saturnus. Under Romulus, the founder of Rome, the
Saturnalia was unified with the Brumalia—the winter sol-
stice.
This same Babylonian worship of Molech, which came
down through the Greeks and Romans, through Constantine
and through the Great Whore of Revelation 17:1, is worshiped
by the same practices and the same customs, at the same time
of year, by the whole deceived Christian world today.
Holidays Around The World, by Joseph Gaer, 1953, page
133, says:
The Old Winter Solstice
Christmas is a very old holiday.
It clearly started as a celebration of the passing of the winter
solstice, and the start of the sun’s return journey from the north
to the south.
All the early nations of the earth joyfully celebrated the arrival
of this season in the sun’s journey. The ancient Romans observed
this time with a festival dedicated to Saturn, the god of agriculture,
and it was called Saturnalia. This festival was observed with great
merriment and abandon. Gifts were exchanged. And great liberties
were allowed between freemen and slaves—just as the Hindus allow
the breaking of the barriers between castes on certain holidays.
When Emperor Constantine decreed Christianity as the new
faith of the Roman Empire, early in the fourth century, the Chris-
tians gave the holiday an entirely new name and an entirely new
meaning.
They called the holiday the Mass of Christ, or Christ Mass, which
was shortened to Christmas. And they declared that Christmas
was the birthday of Jesus of Nazareth. Though the exact day
and year when Jesus was born are not known, tradition has set
the date as December 25, 4 b.c., according to our present-day
reckoning.

All of the practices of Christmas have come from paganism.

They are merely the modern day practices of the same worship
that Yahweh says is an abomination to Him.
Irregardless of the fact that these pagan festivals are covered
with the mask of Christian respectability—the adoration of the
child; the tree worship with the burning of the yule log; ham
on Christmas and New Year; exchanging of gifts; and all of
the magic of this season—they are still the ancient worship of
Nimrod, the mighty one of the earth who opposed Yahweh.

19
 New Year?
 The Book of Holidays, by J. Walker McSpadden, 1958, pages
183-184, says:
The first presents given at this time of year, at the Roman Sat-
urnalia which began on December 17, were green branches for
good luck. Way back in the reign of King Tatius of the Sabines,
the King received this woodland token from a ‘‘lucky tree’’ in
the grove of Strenae. The branches (and later fruits, cakes, and
other things as well) were therefore called strenae. Since the
Saturnalia was celebrated up through the Calends (or first)
of January, the branches were also one of the earliest ways of
wishing Happy New Year. Green, in those days of nature wor-
ship, was for luck and for warding off evil. And even now, for
the Christian festival, to ‘‘bring home Christmas’’ is to bring
into the house the beauty and the blessing of the woods and
outdoor world. What would Christmas be for any of us without
the green—the holly and the mistletoe, the evergreen boughs
and, above all, the tree?

The Saturnalia was celebrated up through the Calends, or first

of January, as it is still being celebrated today by the whole de-
ceived Christian world.

Hogmany (Chag-Meni)
Feast Of God Luck!
 Isayah 65:2-11—
2 I have spread out My hands all the day to a rebellious people, who
walk in a way which is not right, after their own thoughts; devices;
3 A people who provoke Me to anger continually to My face; who
sacrifice in gardens, and burn incense on altars of brick;
4 Who assemble and spend the night keeping memorials for the
dead, who eat swine’s flesh, and the broth of abominable things; un-
clean foods, is in their vessels,
5 Who say; Stand by yourself! Do not come near me, for I am holier
than you! These are a smoke in My nostrils, a fire that burns all the
day.
6 Behold, it is written before Me; I will not keep silence, but will
recompense, even recompense into their bosom__
7 Your iniquities and the iniquities of your fathers together, says
Yahweh: who have burned incense upon the mountains, and blas-
phemed Me upon the hills. Therefore I will measure their former work
into their bosom.
8 This is what Yahweh says: As the new wine is found in the cluster,
and one says; Do not destroy it, for a blessing is in it; so will I do for
My servants’ sake, that I may not destroy them all.

20
 9 And I will bring forth a seed out of Yaaqob, and out of Yahdah
an inheritor of My mountains; and My elect will inherit it, and My
servants will live there.
10 Sharon will be a fold of flocks, and the Valley of Achor a place for
herds to lie down, for My people who have sought Me.
11 But you are those who forsake Yahweh, who forget My holy
mountain, who prepare a table for that troop and who furnish a drink
offering for that number.

The word troop is translated from the Hebrew word gad. Ung-
er’s Bible Dictionary, on page 415, shows us:
Gad, a Canaanite deity improperly rendered ‘‘troop’’ (Isa. 65:11),
was the god of good fortune, supposed to be the deified planet
Jupiter. This star is called by the Arabs ‘‘the greater luck’’ as the
star of good fortune.

The word gad is word # 1408 a variable of word #1409 which

comes from word #1464 in Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary and
means:

T hisword number comes from the Hebrew word mene.

The Hebrew-English Lexicon of the Old Testament, by
Brown, Driver, and Briggs, page 584, shows us that this
word means:

21
 Unger’s Bible Dictionary, page 416, also shows us:
Me´ni (me´ni; Heb. meni, destiny or fate). Name of the god of destiny
or fortune worshipped by the ancient Hebrews in time of apostasy (Isa.
65:11): ‘‘But you who forsook the Lord, who forget my holy mountain,
who set a table for Fortune and fill cups of mixed wine for Destiny’’ R.
S. V. Fortune is ‘‘Gad’’ (q. v.) and Destiny is ‘‘Meni.’’ M. F. U.

 Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary, word #4507, says:

4507. ‫מני‬, men-ee’; from 4487; the apportioner, i.e. fate (as
an idol):__number.

W hat were these condemned people doing when Isayah

prophesied against them? They were celebrating Christmas
and New Year. The Two Babylons, by Alexander Hislop, 1959,
pages 94-96, shows us:
‘‘Christmas Day among the ancient Saxons...was observed to cel-
ebrate the BIRTH of any lord of the host of Heaven...The Saxons
regarded the sun as a female god and the moon a male god. The
birth of this ‘Lord Moon’ was on December 25th. The name of this
‘Lord Moon’ in the East...Babylonians, Chaldeans and among the
Canaanites...was Meni—The Numberer.’’

According to Hislop, Gad refers to the Sun God, and Meni

__

the Moon God. The people offered sacrifices to these Gods in

__

Isayah 65:11.
Holidays Around The World, by Joseph Gaer, 1953, page
137, says:
A Happy New Year!
Exactly one week after Christmas comes New Year’s Day. In the
minds of many people these two holidays seem to go together as
if they had something in common. Actually, of course, there is no
relationship between them. Christmas is a deeply religious hol-
iday, whereas New Year’s Day does nothing more than mark the
beginning of the civil year.
The date we celebrate as New Year’s, like the date of Christmas,
is an inheritance from the Romans.

Bah! Humbug!
Christmas and New Year go together like hand and glove to-
day, just as they have from ancient ages. The ancient birth of

22
the male moon was modernized as Christmas, which the whole
deceived Christian world is celebrating today.
Hogmanay means feast of the numberer. It is the feast of the
God Meni. Even in this age the deceived world bows down on
New Year’s Day, to Gad and Meni the Gods of luck and for-
tune, just as they did when Isayah prophesied against them in
his day.
Spreading a feast of luxuriant ‘lucky’ foods and toasting
drink offerings to ‘good luck’ still takes place in Christendom
today. The Feast of Hogmanay is still celebrated today with
special foods and hard liquors, on the evening before New
Year’s day, ‘for good luck.’
Collier’s Encyclopedia, Volume 6, 1980, page 404, tells us:
Gifts and Cards. The practice of exchanging presents at Christmas
stems from the ancient Roman custom called Strenae. During the
Saturnalia Roman citizens used to give ‘‘good luck’’ gifts (strenae)
of fruits, pastry, or gold to their friends on New Year’s Day.

These ‘good luck’ gifts are in honor of the Gods of fortune and
destiny The Book of Holidays, by J. Walker McSpadden, pages
7-8, says:
NEW YEAR’S DAY
Both on the Eve and on the Day we indulge in the old, old custom of
‘‘Wassail.’’ This universal toast comes from the old Gaelic words,
was hael, meaning ‘‘good health,’’ and signifies the special food
and drink with which we wish each other well at this time. In
Scotland and northern England wassail cakes and wassail bowls
are still called by that name.
An entire book, instead of a chapter, could be written on the
omens and rituals of New Year’s Day throughout the ancient and
modern world.

 Yeremyah 7:18—
How the children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire,
while the women knead dough to make cakes for the Queen of
Heaven, and how they pour out drink offerings to the hinder gods
(elohim), so they may provoke Me to anger!

There is no question that the first day of the pagan New Year is
spent in acquiring ‘good luck’ from the Gods of Luck—Fortune
and Destiny.
There is also no question that the ancient festivities of Sat-
urnalia—Brumalia—Chag Meni are nothing more than the

23
Christmas—New Year of today. Christmas and New Year is still
the ancient pagan worship of the ancient pagan Gods Yahweh
tells us is an abomination to Him.

Janus: The God of January

 Holidays Around the World, by Joseph Gaer, pages 138-139,
says:
Two-faced Janus
Janus was represented among the Roman gods as having two
faces. He was called Janus Bifors, meaning ‘‘Janus with the two
faces.’’ One face always looked back to the old year, and the other
always looked forward to the new. In his right hand Janus held a
key, with which he closed the old year and opened the new; in his
left hand he held a scepter, symbol of his power.
A great temple with immense gates was built to Janus. And
when Rome was at war, the gates of the temple of Janus stood
open. But when peace was declared, the gates were closed with
great rejoicing.
There was also great rejoicing before the gates of the temple of
Janus on New Year’s Day when the people gathered to do homage
to the god of all beginnings. Gifts were exchanged among friends.
Resolutions to be friendly and good to each other were made. And
the entire day was given to festivities.
When the Romans under Constantine accepted Christianity as
their new faith, they retained the Festival of Janus as their New
Year’s Day.

 The Two Babylons, by Alexander Hislop, 1959, pages 209-

210, tells us about the Key of Janus:
When the Pope came, as he did, into intimate connection with
the Pagan Priesthood; when they came under his control, what
more natural than to seek not only to reconcile paganism and
Christianity, but to make it appear that the pagan, ‘Peter-Roma’,
with his ‘keys’ meant ‘Peter of Rome’ and that ‘Peter of Rome’ was
the very Apostle to whom Jesus gave ‘‘the keys of the kingdom?’’
Hence, from the mere jingle of words, persons and things essen-
tially different were confounded; and paganism and Christianity
jumbled together, that the towering ambition of a wicked priest
might be gratified; and so...to the blinded Christians of the apos-
tasy, the Pope was the representative of Peter the Apostle...while
to the initiated pagans..he was only the representative of Peter...
the interpreter of their well known Mysteries. Thus was the Pope
the express counterpart of ‘‘Janus, the double-faced.’’

24
Janus, the God that the month of January is named for was the
Father of the Gods, and at the same time the mediatorial di-
vinity. He is identified with Bacchus or Adonis (the Sun God)
and was invoked in the Religion of Mystery as Satur, Saturn,
Mystery. The Two Babylons, page 269, says:
As MYSTERY signifies the HIDDEN SYSTEM so SATURN signifies
the HIDDEN GOD.

This hidden God is the same God this whole deceived world
worships today in the celebrations called Christmas and New
Year. Collier’s Encyclopedia, 1980, Volume 20, page 449,
shows us who Saturn is:
SATURN [sæ¢tern] (Lat. Saturnus), an ancient Roman god of
sowing and agriculture, hence considered a mythical king who had
introduced civilization and morality into Italy, which was thus called
Saturnia. The wife of Saturn was Ops, goddess of plenty. Saturn
was later identified with the Greek god Cronus, father of the gods,
who was said to have fled to Italy after being dethroned by Zeus
and to have reigned there during the Golden Age. The festival of
the Saturnalia, originally on December 17, was later extended by
five or seven days; candles were lighted, friends exchanged gifts,
and slaves were served by their masters; it was a period of good
will and general festivity, the prototype of Christmas. The earliest
extant reference to Saturn’s day dates from the first century b.c.
(Tibullus). See also AGES OF MAN; CRONUS.

Saturn is identified with Kronos, the father of the Gods. A Dic-

tionary of Non-Christian Religions, Geoffrey Parrinder, 1971,
page 157, says: ‘‘Kronos, time in ancient Greek mythology...’’
Gods and Mortals in Classical Mythology, Michael Grant
and John Hazel, 1973, pages 124-125, tells us more about Kro-
nos, the father of the Gods:
According to a different tradition, Cronos had not been a grim
tyrant but a benign ruler who presided over a blessed golden
age; after his deposition he left to become ruler of the Isles of the
Blessed in the Western Ocean. This aspect of Cronos links him
with Saturn, the Roman god with whom he was identified. Some
Greeks associated Cronos’ name, wrongly, with the word chro-
nos (time), and consequently depicted him as an old man with a
scythe__Father Time. The oldest account of the story of Cronos is
given by Hesiod in the Theogany.

Saturnus and Kronos are one and the same God. The Concise

25
Encyclopedia of Greek and Roman Mythology, Sabine G. Os-
twalt, page 261, says this about Saturnus:

...an ancient agricultural deity who came to Rome from Etruria.

But he was very early identified with the Greek-Cronus and his
consort was thought to be Ops (Greek-Rhea)...Saturnus introduced
the cultivation of the vine and taught them to use a sickle for
reaping corn; hence...his statue held a sickle.

Following is the modern picture of Father Time; the same Ro-

man Saturn, Greek Kronos and Babylonian Molech the whole
Christian world pays homage to at this very day and age.

The modern version of Father Time is that of an old man with

a sickle (representing the old year) who dies at the year’s end
and is immediately reborn as an infant in the New Year.
Mythology of All Religions, Volume 5, page 52, shows that
Kronus is the ancient prototype of this modern holiday:
Bel-Melqart (Kronus)...renews himself each year as the ‘Invinci-
ble Sun’ in the fires that burned the infants and children to the
god—Molech!

 A Dictionary of Non-Christian Religions, by Geoffrey Par-

rinder, 1971, page 246, says:
Saturn, Saturnalia. Saturn was a Roman god, perhaps of autumn
sowing, and identified with the Greek Kronos (q.v.). His festival,
the Saturnalia, was on 17 December, when there was considerable
licence. Slaves could do as they liked, for a time. There was a
Lord of Misrule, and presents were exchanged. Some of this was
transferred into Christmas and New Year festivities. Saturn was
also a planet from which Saturday is named.

26
 Strange Stories, Amazing Facts, by The Readers Digest As-
sociation, 1980, pages 283-284, tells us of some of the customs
that were transferred to Christmas and New Year:
Weeklong feast
The seven days of Roman feasting were an occasion for exchanging
presents—one of the pagan customs that was gladly incorporat-
ed into Christmas. Even the sternest advocates of the new faith
could not eradicate the notion that Saturnalia was a time for
merrymaking.
The Romans used to switch roles with their slaves, who were
encouraged to elect their own ‘‘king’’ for the holiday. He would
preside over a great banquet, at which the master would wait on
him and his fellow servants.
A similar idea survives in the armed forces in Britain, where
it is still an honored tradition for the officers and senior NCO’s to
serve the Christmas dinner in the lower ranks’ mess. The reason
Christian practice could never go the whole way with the Roman
custom is that the unfortunate slave ‘‘kings,’’ after their brief
exaltation, were put to death.
When the Normans invaded England in 1066, they introduced into
the Christmas festivities a mock king, called the Lord of Misrule,
whose job was to ensure that the celebrations were conducted in
the old pagan style.
Wearing paper hats and using firecrackers are throwbacks to
the wilder excesses of ancient Rome. Yule logs and candles belong
to the Norse tradition: They were symbols of fire and light, bringing
welcome relief in the cold and darkness of the northern midwinter.
In the centuries that followed the Norman Conquest, as Chris-
tianity gained a firmer hold, carols and the Nativity play were
added. And Father Christmas evolved as a mixture of the red-robed
Lord of Misrule and St. Nicholas (Santa Claus), the patron saint
of children.

The mistletoe
Mistletoe, a plant sacred to the Druids, was hung outside Viking

27
 homes as a sign of peace and welcome to strangers.
The custom of kissing under the mistletoe has been traced to
the Roman Saturnalia. It has also been associated with certain
primitive marriage rites.

 The Universal Reference Encyclopedia, 1948, under Christ-

mas, says:
When the festival was at length placed in December, it afforded
a substitute to the various nations who had observed a festival
of rejoicing that the shortest day of the year had passed, besides
spanning over the great interval between Whitsuntide of one year
and Good Friday of the next. Coming to the Roman Christian con-
verts, in lieu of the Saturnalia, to which they had been accustomed
while they were heathens, its purity became sullied almost at the
first by revelry which had crept into it from this source. Similarly
the Yule log and the mistletoe are relics of Druidism.

It is a proven fact that the festivities of Christmas and New

Year are the same worship to the same pagan Gods which
Yahweh tells us is an abomination to Him. Yahweh also says
to us in:
 Yeremyah 10:2-5—
2 This is what Yahweh says: Do not learn the way; religious prac-
tices, of the heathen; Gentile nations; and do not be deceived by the
signs of heaven; though the heathen are deceived by them; using them
to set their feasts.
3 For the religious customs of the peoples are vain; worthless! For
one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman,
with the ax.
4 They decorate it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails
and with hammers, so that it will not move; topple over.
5 They are upright, like a palm tree, but they cannot speak; they
must be carried, because they cannot go by themselves. Do not give
them reverence! They cannot do evil, nor is it in them to do righteous-
ness!

Yahweh has told us emphatically, ‘‘Do not learn the way of the
heathen!’’ The way of the heathen is written in the chapters
of man’s customs and traditions that have come down from
Nimrod—Semiramis—Ninus—mother—son—husband adora-
tion__worship.
Yahweh’s Way is written in The Holy Scriptures. His way is
there for His House to read and then to obey.
 Deuteronomy 4:1-2—
1 Hear now, O Israyl, the statutes and the judgments which I teach
you to observe and do, that you may live, and go in and possess the

28
 land which Yahweh, the Heavenly Father of your fathers, is giving you.
2 You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor shall you
take anything from it, so that you may keep the laws of Yahweh your
Father which I command you.

W e realize that these customs of Christmas and New Year

are presented to this world as beautiful things. These worldly
holidays are well bounded in the very fabric of life in the Chris-
tian world. These are times when families come together, gifts
are exchanged, and the tree is set up with all the old, familiar
decorations. These festivals play on the emotions and senses of
mankind. These are exactly the kinds of feelings Satan uses to
get this world to give her the worship she desires.
The worldly preachers who claim to follow the Scriptures
are afraid to condemn these pagan practices. They are afraid of
upsetting all the rich merchants who benefit during the yule-
tide season. They are afraid of upsetting the worship of the sun
that brings them so much wealth.
 II Corinthians 11:14-15—
14 And no marvel; for Satan herself is transformed into an angel of
light.
15 Therefore, it is no great thing if her ministers also are trans-
formed as the ministers of righteousness—whose end will be accord-
ing to their works.

Satan makes the emotional holidays at this time of the year

seem so right. But to know these customs and traditions are
the worship of pagan Gods and then to still willfully participate
in them is an abominable sin.
 Hebrews 10:26—
For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the
truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins.

To know that these Christian holidays of Christmas and New

Year are nothing more than the worship of the ancient pagan
Gods is to also know that to bow down and worship them is
breaking the first two of the Ten Commandments.
The First Commandment is that Yahweh is our Heavenly
Father and we are to have no hinder Gods at all,
(Exodus 20:2-3).
The Second Commandment is that we are not to make any
carved image in the form of anything in heaven, on earth, or in
the waters, to bow down and serve them. (Exodus 20:4-5).

29
 To bow down and serve Yahweh is to obey every Word that
proceeds out of His mouth, not adding to it nor diminishing
from it in any way.
All one needs to do in order to serve hinder gods is to turn
from Yahweh’s Way. Do not be mistaken, Yahweh is alive and
sees all. Yahweh is the rewarder of those that diligently seek
Him.
 Hebrews 11:6—
But without the faith it is impossible to please Him; for he who
comes to Yahweh must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of
those who diligently seek Him.

The only reward that this sin-sick world has is the emotion-
al reward they receive as they keep these pagan festivals.
Their names are not written in the Book of Life and they will
not know what has hit them when Yahshua returns. What is
Yahweh’s Word on this pagan worship?
 Deuteronomy 12:30-32—
30 Be careful not to be ensnared into following them by asking
about their gods (elohim), saying: How did these nations serve their
gods (elohim)? I also will do the same.
31 You must not worship Yahweh your Father in their way, for ev-
ery abomination to Yahweh, which He hates, they have done to their
gods (elohim). They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as
sacrifices to their gods (elohim).
32 Whatsoever I command you, be careful to observe and do it, you
shall not add to it, nor take away from it.

Yahweh also shows us the judgment of the religious system

of Mystery Babylon the Great, mother of harlots and abomina-
tions of the earth.
 Revelation 18:2,8—
2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying: Babylon the
great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of demons, and
the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful
bird.
8 Therefore, her plagues will come in one day—death, and mourn-
ing, and famine; and she will be utterly burned with fire; for strong is
Father Yahweh Who judges her.

To those of Yahweh’s House whom He has called or is calling

in these Last Days, to all who would enter into His Kingdom,
Yahweh says:
 Revelation 18:4—
And I heard another voice from heaven, saying: Come out of her, My

30
 people, so that you do not partake in her sins, and so that you do not
receive of her plagues.

Yahweh promises to His servants, those who obey every Word

that proceeds from His mouth:
 Isayah 65:13-15—
13 Therefore, this is what Yahweh our Father says: Behold, My ser-
vants will eat, but you will be hungry. Behold, My servants will drink,
but you will be thirsty. Behold, My servants will rejoice, but you will
be ashamed.
14 Behold, My servants will sing for joy of heart, but you will cry for
sorrow of heart, and wail for vexation; grief, of spirit;
15 And you will leave your name as a curse to My chosen; for
Yahweh our Father will slay you, and call His servants by another
Name.
 Revelation 21:5-8—
5 And He Who sat upon the throne, said: Behold, I make all things
new. And He said to me: Write, for these words are true and faithful.
6 And He said to me: It is done! I am Aleph and Tau, the Beginning
and the End. I will give to him who thirsts of the fountain of the water
of life freely.
7 He who overcomes will inherit all things; and I will be his Father,
and he will be My son.
8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and mur-
derers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and worshipers of gods
(elohim), and all liars, will have their part in the lake which burns
with fire and brimstone—which is the second death.
 Revelation 22:13-17—
13 I am the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
14 Blessed are those who do His commandments (laws), that they
may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates
into the city.
15 For outside are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and
murderers, and worshipers of gods (elohim) and everyone who pro-
fesses to love, yet practices breaking the Law.
16 I, Yahshua, have sent My malak to testify to you these things
in the congregations of The House of Yahweh. I am the root and the
offspring of David, and the Bright and Morning Star.
17 And the Spirit and the bride, say: Come! And let him who hears,
say: Come! And let him who is thirsty come. And whoever will, let him
take the water of life freely.

Personal from the Editor about

Christmas And New Year
Greetings in the Name of Yahshua,
When most people first begin to study their bible for them-
selves, they are shocked to find that their Bible does not say

31
what their church teaches.
Every honest Bible student who has studied the Bible for
any length of time will admit that there has been vast changes
in doctrine from the time of the early followers of Yahshua.
These students may not all agree on the times these changes
took place, but they will all agree that this did take place.
In The New International Dictionary of the Christian
Church, Revised Edition, by Zondervan Publishing, on page
222, we find this statement concerning the Disciples that were
personally taught by Yahshua:
CHRISTIAN YEAR, THE. The early Christians who were mainly
Jews were used not only to keeping one day in the week as sepa-
rate but also to marking the year with certain religious festivals,
notably Passover, Tabernacles, and Pentecost. From early times
Christians kept a commemoration of Christ’s resurrection. This
was held at Passover time and was finally fixed on the Sunday
following Passover. Pentecost was then celebrated at the appro-
priate time; the fifty days between the two were days of joy and
rejoicing. The choice of 25 December (in the East, 6 January) for
the birth of Christ is almost certainly because that day was the
great pagan day of honor to the sun, and in Rome in the fourth
century it was transformed into a Christian festival.
From the fourth century the Christian calendar became more
historical in character, and Holy Week and Ascension Day appeared.
Pentecost became the day of the giving of the Holy Spirit. Lent
arose out of the custom of preparing catechumens for baptism
at Easter. Saints’ days came into the calendar either through the
commemoration of a martyrdom or through the date of a dedication
of a church in honor of a particular saint. The advantage of the
Christian Year is that through the church services, and in partic-
ular the choice of Scripture passages to be read, worshipers are
regularly reminded of the great events of the Christian faith and
a balance is kept between them. In recent years there have been
various suggestions for modification of the calendar, particularly
in relation to Advent and Lent, and some demand, supported by
secular sources, for a fixed date for Easter.
Peter S. Dawes

P lease note when these changes appeared on the pages of

man’s history. Also note that, the followers of Yahshua, the
Disciples and early believers, did not celebrate these pagan
days. Do not be deceived, these pagan celebrations were being
observed even during the time of the Apostles, but Yahweh’s
People did not observe any of these pagan celebrations.

32
 The Apostles and early believers kept the commanded holy
days of Yahweh—the weekly Sabbath, Yahshua’s Memorial,
the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Day of Pen-
tecost, the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, the Feast
of Tabernacles and the Last Great Day.
The Apostle Shaul warned the flock of Yahweh of the chang-
es that he knew would take place in:
 Acts 20:29-32—
29 For I know this, that after my departing grievous wolves will
enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
30 Also among your own selves will men arise, speaking perverse
things, to draw away disciples after themselves.
31 Therefore watch, and remember, that for the period of three
years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears.
32 And now, brothers, I commend you to Yahweh, and to the Law
which He gave, which is able to build up The House of Yahweh, and is
able to give you an inheritance among all those who are saints.

Shaul knew Yahweh’s Way of Salvation would be rejected by

ones there. He knew these men would turn back to the pagan
worship he had taught against for three years. He warned them
night and day with tears.
Shaul knew that only Yahweh’s Way of Salvation, the true
doctrine, was able to build one up to the inheritance of eternal
life, as he said in:
 Acts 20:32—
...which is able to build up The House of Yahweh, and is able to give
you an inheritance among all those who are saints.

S anctified means to be set apart for a holy purpose. Shaul

knew that only the Way of Yahweh would sanctify a person and
give that person the right to the Tree of Life.
 Revelation 22:14—
Blessed are those who do His laws, that they may have right to the
tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.

The Apostles and early believers never taught the pagan cus-
tom of Christmas. This deception was brought into the congre-
gations after the death of the Apostles.
This celebration was not a new doctrine by any means. The
pagans had been practicing these celebrations hundreds of
years before Yahshua was born!
These celebrations were condemned by the early prophets.

33
Yeremyah had this to say about the pagan celebration which
early Christians renamed Christmas:
 Yeremyah 10:1—
Hear the word which Yahweh speaks concerning you, O house of
Israyl.

T he world does not hear Yahweh’s Words. The reason this

world does not hear the Word of Yahweh is because Satan has
deceived this whole world, as we are told in Revelation 12:9.
Our Savior also said in:
 Mattithyah 13:13—
That is why I speak to them in parables; because seeing they do not
see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.

Y ahweh’s Word is very clear, the world knows what the

prophets have written, they even believe the prophets spoke
these things; yet they do not practice what the prophets under
Yahweh’s inspiration taught, as we see written in:
 Yeremyah 10:2—
This is what Yahweh says: Do not learn the way; religious practices,
of the heathen; Gentile nations; and do not be deceived by the signs
of heaven; though the heathen are deceived by them; using them to
set their feasts.

The people of this world have disobeyed Yahweh not only by

learning heathen ways, but also by practicing these heathen
ways yearly.
 Yeremyah 10:3—
For the religious customs of the peoples are vain; worthless!...

Notice what Yahweh says in Yeremyah 10:3. This custom that

all the world practices is a vain custom. This custom will not
bring Salvation, but its vanity will most definitely bring death.
We are also told in Yeremyah what this vain custom is that
Yahweh tells us not to learn:
 Yeremyah 10:3-5—
3 ...For one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the
workman, with the ax.
4 They decorate it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails
and with hammers, so that it will not move; topple over.
5 They are upright, like a palm tree, but they cannot speak; they
must be carried, because they cannot go by themselves. Do not give
them reverence! They cannot do evil, nor is it in them to do righteous-
ness!

34
This vain custom that Yahweh commands us not to learn is
practiced by all of Christendom every year. They cut their ev-
ergreen trees, and they deck their trees just as they did in the
time of Yeremyah. This world thinks nothing of practicing this
vain custom, although it is a custom of worship to pagan gods!
The practice of this vain custom also breaks the First Com-
mandment: ‘‘I am Yahweh, you shall have no hinder Gods.’’
The breaking of Yahweh’s Law is sin (I Yahchanan 3:4). The
wages you earn for practicing sin is death (Romans 6:23)! This
world believes the fact that Yahweh inspired these Scriptures
to be written. His words are there for all to read, but they re-
fuse to believe what Yahweh says. Yahweh says throughout the
Scriptures that this vain way leads to death, and if you practice
these vain customs which Satan instituted, you are a servant of
Satan and not of Yahweh.
 Romans 6:16—
Do you not know that to whom you yield yourselves as servants
to obey, his servants you are whom you obey—whether of sin, which
leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?
 Yeremyah 10:2—
This is what Yahweh says: Do not learn the way; religious practices,
of the heathen; Gentile nations; and do not be deceived by the signs
of heaven; though the heathen are deceived by them; using them to
set their feasts.

It was through ignorance, and the dread and fear of the signs
of a dying sun, that this vain custom of Christmas was intro-
duced, though it was not called Christmas at that time. What
is even more amazing is the fact that today’s educated world
still worships Satan through these vain customs that pagans
practiced because of their ignorance.
 Revelation 21:7-8—
7 He who overcomes will inherit all things; and I will be his Father,
and he will be My son.
8 But the Fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and mur-
derers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and worshipers of gods
(elohim), and all liars, will have their part in the lake which burns
with fire and brimstone—which is the second death.
 Yeremyah 10:8—
But they are altogether senseless; as one They are consumed by
their foolishness; their stock is a doctrine of vanities; preaching about
worthless gods (elohim, teraphim) made of wood!

This custom practiced during this month of the year is not a

35
new doctrine ordained by any of the followers of Yahweh. This
custom named Christmas is an old, pagan practice from the
worship of Baal.
The Apostles warned against and taught against this pagan
practice. However, this pagan practice was brought back into
the congregations by the Christians who claimed they were fol-
lowing the Apostles—by men whom Shaul described as grievi-
ous wolves in Acts 20:29.
The New International Dictionary of the Christian Church,
Zondervan, page 223, says this about this vain custom:
CHRISTMAS. The English name for the Feast of the Nativity of
Christ kept on 25 December by the Western Church. There is no
evidence of a Feast of the Nativity before the fourth century, ex-
cept possibly among the Basilidians. The earliest mention of 25
December is in the Philocalian Calendar, compiled in 354, which
cites its observance in Rome in 336. It would not appear to have
been celebrated in Antioch until approximately 375. By 380 it was
being observed in Constantinople, and by 430 in Alexandria. It
was still unknown in Jerusalem early in the fifth century__it was
not until the sixth century that the Nativity was finally detached
from 6 January and celebrated on 25 December. By the middle
of the fifth century__it was being gradually observed throughout
East and West. The Armenians still observe 6 January, the closely
related Feast of the Epiphany, as Christmas Day.
There is no authoritative historical evidence as to the day or
month of Christ’s birth in Jerusalem. 25 December was the date
of a Roman pagan festival inaugurated in 274 as the birthday of
the unconquered sun which at the winter solstice begins again
to show an increase in light. Sometime before 336 the Church in
Rome, unable to stamp out this pagan festival, spiritualized it as
the Feast of the Nativity of the Sun of Righteousness. Christmas
in the Eastern Church celebrates the birth of Christ together with
the visit of the shepherds and the adoration of the wise men. In the
Western Church the adoration of the Magi is attached to Epiphany
on 6 January. In the Roman Catholic Church three masses are
usually said to symbolize the birth of Christ eternally in the bosom
of the Father, from the womb of Mary and mystically in the soul of
the faithful. The traditional customs associated with Christmas
have been derived from several sources. The merrymaking and
the exchange of presents find their origin in the Roman Saturnalia
festival (17-24 December), and the greenery and lights come from
the Kalends of January (1 January, the Roman New Year) with its
solar associations. The Germano-Celtic Yule rites introduced the
tradition of feasting and fellowship. In the USA (and in England

36
 during the Commonwealth) Christian celebrations were at first
suppressed by the Puritans, who objected to their pagan origins.
Since the nineteenth century the celebration of Christmas has
become increasingly popular.
James Taylor

T hese pagan practices brought on the death of the first es-

tablished House of Yahweh. Satan managed to slowly bring
pagan practices and false doctrines into The House of Yahweh
after all of the Apostles died. The Apostles fought against these
practices and doctrines until their deaths.
The House of Yahweh was the Pillar and Ground of the
Truth of Yahweh when it was under the direct leadership of the
Apostles. When pagan practices and false doctrines entered
in, those polluted assemblies were no longer the Pillar and
Ground of Yahweh’s Truth.
As the Apostles would not yield to pagan customs or false
doctrines, we also should not yield to churches today that
teach these doctrines. Yahshua gave us this warning in:
 Yahchanan Mark 7:7—
But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrine the command-
ments of men.

These pagan customs and practices are the worship of pagan

gods that Yahweh warned against in:
 Deuteronomy 12:30-32—
30 Be careful not to be ensnared into following them by asking
about their gods (elohim), saying: How did these nations serve their
gods (elohim)? I also will do the same.
31 You must not worship Yahweh your Father in their way, for ev-
ery abomination to Yahweh, which He hates, they have done to their
gods (elohim). They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as
sacrifices to their gods (elohim).
32 Whatsoever I command you, be careful to observe and do it, you
shall not add to it, nor take away from it.

W hat is the Way of worship that brings Salvation? Your

Savior, Yahshua Messiah through Yahweh our Father, gives
you the answer—and it is not through the worship of pagan
Gods.
 Mattithyah 19:17—
But He said to him: Why do you question Me about righteous-
ness? There is only One Who is the standard of perfection, and that is
Yahweh; so if you would enter into life, keep the Laws.

37
 Mattithyah 4:4—
But He answered, and said; It is written: Man does not live by bread
alone, but by every word (law) that proceeds out of the mouth of
Yahweh.

Yahshua quoted Mattithyah 4:4 from the Law—Torah:

 Deuteronomy 8:3—
So He humbled you, and allowed you to hunger, and fed you with
manna, which you did not know of nor did your fathers know of it; so
He might make you to know that man does not live by bread only, but
by every word (law) that proceeds out of the mouth of Yahweh, does
man live.

Pagan practices will not lead to eternal life. Those who follow
vain customs are called whoremongers and worshipers of Gods
by Yahweh. Yahweh also says such will suffer the second death
in Revelation 21:8.

The only way to EVERLASTING life is Yahweh’s

Way. There is no other WAY! PRAISE YAHWEH!

38
-notes-

39
-notes-

40